NWSGI: New release and big improvements

By Michael Foord -
NWSGI is "a .NET implementation of the Python WSGI specification for IronPython. It is implemented as an ASP.NET HttpHandler for use with IIS 6 and 7" created by Jeff Hardy. The goal is to be able to run Python applications like Django, Trac and Pylons on IronPython. It can also be used on the Microsoft Azure (cloud computing) platform.

Jeff Hardy has just released a beta of version 2.0, and explained the new features:
This is a major update to NWSGI that makes it easier to install and use and dramatically improves the management story.

So, what happened to 1.1? Originally, NWSGI 1.1 was going to be a refresh of v1.0 that supported IronPython 2.6 and fixed a few bugs. NWSGI 2.0 was going to completely overhaul large parts of the management UI and make some deeper changes to the handler itself. However, I got a week off with some rain and v2.0 progressed much quicker than expected; v1.1 was obsolete before it was even released.

So, v1.1 was dropped and v2.0 will be the first IronPython 2.6-compatible release. It’s easy to make breaking changes when you have no customers.

What’s New
  • Easier configuration. In v1.0 there were different ways to configure NWSGI depending on your configuration. Now there is only one way to do it. Some of the more ambiguous options have also been cleaned up, and new ones added to support IronPython 2.6.
  • Better management UI. IIS 7 includes a rich UI framework for developing management extensions, but doesn’t have much documentation on it. Some spelunking with reflector showed me better ways to do pretty much everything; not much of the v1.0 management code is left.
  • Performance improvements. NWSGI will now cache the WSGI callable instead of reloading it each time.
  • Other misc. fixes. I really need to get into the habit of adding a Codeplex issue for each bug so that I can keep track of what I’ve fixed.
Jeff has also made two separate blog entries explaining the major changes.
There are two ways to use NWSGI: by installing it or by using xcopy deployment. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but their functionality is the same.
One of the two areas to see the most changes in NWSGI 2.0 was its configuration. Some of the options in v1.0 were overloaded in strange ways; even I wasn’t entirely sure what some combinations would produce. There was also the small problem of where to put the configuration section; it varied depending on how NWSGI was installed. For v2.0, both problems needed to be fixed. Doing so required a re-think of how configuration was handled.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Extending Abobe Flash Player and AIR with Python and Ruby

By Michael Foord -
An intriguing blog entry about an Adobe experimental project. It is a C/C++ cross- compiler for the flash player and AIR. This means that you can (will be able to?) cross-compile the Python / Ruby/ lots of other language runtimes and then run them in Flash. The blog entry contrasts this approach to the DLR which requires the re-implementation of dynamic languages - hence IronPython and IronRuby. The project is already beyond proof-of concept, they even have Quake III cross-compiled and running in Flash. Extending Adobe Flash Player and AIR with C/C++ Cross-Compiler Quake 3 has already been ported to managed code , but this is even more impressive. Whether the Python interpreter can be cross-compiled to run on top of another runtime (with completely different basic types), without changing the language semantics at all, has yet to be proved - but it is a very interesting project. (It also means that Python/Ruby will possibly be enabled only by additional optional downloads - but don'
Read more

IronPython Tools for Visual Studio CTP3

By Michael Foord -
At PyCon this year Dino Veihland announced IronPython Tools for Visual Studio, an extension to Visual Studio 2010 for working with IronPython. It features Python syntax highlighting, awesome auto-complete (intellisense) and a host of other features for working with IronPython code in Visual Studio. It can be used with the free Visual Studio shell and doesn't require you to own a full copy of Visual Studio. The third CTP (Community Technology Preview) has been made available for download. IronPython Tools for Visual Studio We are happy to announce a minor update to the IronPython Tools for Visual Studio.  IronPython Tools for Visual Studio (IPyTools) is a set of extensions available for Visual Studio 2010 which supports development of IronPython applications.  This release is our 3rd Community Technical Preview (CTP) and builds upon the previous two releases.  The release is a minor update which includes bug fixes and a number of small features.  You can download the latest rel
Read more

Further Adventures of the Debugger

By Michael Foord -
Harry Pierson (Microsoft IronPython PM) has been experimenting with writing an IronPython debugger ( ipydbg ) on top of the .NET MDbg APIs. When we last left him , he had implemented Just My Code (JMC) support allowing you to step into IronPython code. Since then he has made a lot of progress including a colourful REPL (interactive console) and solving some difficult problems around getting to real values behind boxed IronPython variables (needed for showing local variables). He has blogged extensively on what he has been up to (more recent posts last): Showing Source Code Colorful Console IronPython ConsoleColorMgr (the colorful console code pulled out into a separate IronPython module) A Little Hack...err...Cleanup Getting Local Variables Displaying Values Command Routing Getting Arguments REPL Console A lot of functionality is now present. In the command routing entry Harry outlines the seven commands supported by the debugger so far: Continue, Quit, Show Stack Trace, Show Locals,
Read more